From an Acorn Doth the Oak Tree Grow

When Jakie was about to graduate from the Acorn Nursery School, some mothers volontold (haha) me that it might be nice to make a goodbye artwork for the school. Because there is nothing more personally defining, I had the children all make self portraits. It was so interesting to work with such little children. Though they see people all around them every day and the children were told beforehand to remember all the body parts, their drawings were often quite muddled. Sometimes it doesn’t occur to them that a person has a torso or arms or legs. Some people were all hair. Some were just a line. Mostly though, they did understand about their head-ish. As best as I could, I put little acorn hats on their heads and dressed them in green. Each little acorn elf corresponds to a leaf with their name on it. One boy moved away and one little girl died, so they are just leaves without the elves, because it is important that we remember.